A common strategy among critics seeking to prove the Book of Mormon to be a work of fiction is to find books that must have served as inspiration for Joseph Smith. Thomas E. Donofrio, the author of a MormonThink article called “Early American Influences on the Book of Mormon” argues that he has identified several works that bear so many similarities to the Book of Mormon that Joseph Smith must have borrowed heavily from these sources. These works include Mercy Otis Warren’s “History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution” (1805), David Ramsay’s “The History of the American Revolution” (1789), speeches from the Founding Framers, and several religious sermons. Supposedly, the similarities between the Book of Mormon and these works are so strong that they cannot be explained away as coincidences or that Joseph simply translated using “the language of his day.”

Part 1 of this article compares the parallels between the Book of Mormon and Mercy Warren’s “History” to five ancient records that were translated into English close to Joseph’s lifetime. Subsequent articles will examine the remaining sources identified by Donofrio. My purpose is to show that nearly all of the parallels can be found in other ancient documents that were translated into English close to Joseph’s lifetime. We can therefore conclude that the language used in Joseph Smith’s translation of the Book of Mormon was entirely appropriate and that Donofrio’s list of parallels are not unique to authors of American Revolutionary War history.

The five records to be compared are:

1. The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus (written between 78 and 93 A.D.; translated into English by William Whiston in 1737)
2. The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides (written between 431 and 400 B.C.; translated into English by Richard Crawley in 1874)
3. The History of Herodotus (written in 440 B.C.; translated into English by George Rawlinson in 1910),
4. The Dialogues of Plato (Plato lived between 427 and 347 B.C.; translated by Benjamin Jowett in 1871)
5. Aristotle’s Politics (Aristotle lived between 384 and 322 B.C.; translated by Benjamin Jowett beginning in 1856 and published in 1885). I have also referenced the KJV Bible and the Apocrypha in some cases.

The parallels will be listed in the order that they are presented in the MormonThink article. The parallel quotes from Warren’s “History” and the Book of Mormon are listed side by side in bold type, with the similar quotes from my five sources listed in italics underneath. Quotes which do not have a similar source in the previously listed sources are highlighted in red:

• sets at defiance both human and divine laws (Warren, p. 12) / ye have set at defiance the commandments of God (Alma 5:18)
  • “and a contempt of both human and divine laws” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, 12:7… contempt’ is a synonym for ‘defiance’)
  • “exclusion from the ports of the Athenian empire and the market of Athens, in defiance of the treaty” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter III)
  • “the affairs of the Hebrews were managed uncertainly, and tended to disorder, and to the contempt of God and of the laws” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book V, 8:7)
• law set at defiance (Warren, p. 81) / set at defiance the law (3 Nephi 6:30)
  • “their calamities arose from their contempt of the laws” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book V, 5:2)
  • “exclusion from the ports of the Athenian empire and the market of Athens, in defiance of the treaty” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter III)
• that man, in a state of nature (p. 12) / men that are in a state of nature (Alma 41:11)
  • “The legislator was under the idea that war was the natural state of all mankind, and that peace is only a pretence (Plato, Dialogues, The Laws: The Preamble, Book I)
  • “having his hand recovered to its natural state” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VIII, 8:5)
  • “But as for his being ensnared by a woman, that is to be ascribed to human nature, which is took weak to resist the temptations to that sin” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book V, 8:12)
  • “In the confusion into which life was now thrown in the cities, human nature, always rebelling against the law and now its master, gladly showed itself ungoverned in passion, above respect for justice, and the enemy of all superiority” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
• a consciousness of their own guilt (p. 109) / a consciousness of his own guilt (Alma 14:6)
  • “they should seem to be in this difficulty from a consciousness of guilt” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVI, 4:2)
• to conquer or die in defence of their country (p. 202) / to conquer in this place or die (Alma 56:17) / defence of their country (Alma 51:20)
  • “we must conquer or hardly get away, as we shall have their horse upon us in great numbers” (Thucydides, Book VI, Chapter XX)
  • “And not contented with ideas derived only from words of the advantages which are bound up with the defence of your country” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
  • “also of encouraging them to undergo dangers, and to die for their countries” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, 14:4)
  • “Nay, indeed, Lysias observing the great spirit of the Jews, how they were prepared to die rather than lose their liberty” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 7:5)
  • “it can never be that we must conquer without bloodshed on our own side” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 1:6)
• learn wisdom (p. 645) / learn wisdom (2 Nephi 22:30)
  • “I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy” (Bible, Proverbs 30:3)
  • “if it is not a case for repentance, you may still learn wisdom” (Thucydides, Book VI, Chapter XIX)
  • “And from hence I cannot forbear to admire God, and to learn hence his wisdom and his justice” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XI, 6:11)
• tenderness of a parent (p. 237) / tender parent (1 Nephi 8:37)
  • “as one that was a tender and gentle father to them” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, 5:6)
• destruction was ripening (p. 543) / ripening for destruction (Helaman 5:2)
• Multitudes flocked from every quarter to the American standard (p. 129) / multitudes flocked to the American standard (p. 191) / thousands did flock unto his standard (Alma 62:5)
  • “The multitude also flocked about him greatly, and made mighty acclamations to him” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVII, 12:1)
  • “Raise the standard of revolt in Persia, and then march straight on Media” (Herodotus, Book I)
  • “calling to his standard fifteen hundred Thracian mercenaries and all the Edonians” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XV)
  • “And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly” (Bible, Isaiah 5:26)
• plant the standard of royalty (p. 241) / planted the standard of liberty (Alma 46:36)
  • “Raise the standard of revolt in Persia, and then march straight on Media” (Herodotus, Book I)
  • “Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon” (Bible, Jeremiah 51:12)
  • “the Spirit of the lord shall lift up a standard against him” (Bible, Isaiah 59:19)
  • “An antique iron sword is planted on the top of every such mound, and serves as the image of Mars” (Herodotus, Book IV)
• that manly spirit of freedom (p. 31) / a true spirit of freedom (Alma 60:25)
  • “Such was the natural nobility of this city, so sound and healthy was the spirit of freedom among us” (Plato, Dialogues, Menexenus)
  • “trusting less in system and policy than to the native spirit of our citizens” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
  • “Nay, indeed, Lysias observing the great spirit of the Jews, how they were prepared to die rather than lose their liberty” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 7:5)
• a free people (p. 33) / a free people (Alma 21:21)
  • “he would have the greatest honors decreed to him that a free people could bestow” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIX, 3:3)
  • “shake off the yoke of servitude, and to become a free people” (Herodotus, Book I)
• a free government (p. 65) / a free government (Alma 46:35)
  • “Lacedaemonians, propose to put down free governments in the cities of Greece, and to set up tyrannies in their room” (Herodotus, Book V)
  • “The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• the cause of liberty (p. 24) / the cause of liberty (Alma 51:17)
  • “courage not to be moved by any dangers in the cause of liberty” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 8:7)
• that the voice of the people (p. 24) / that the voice of the people (Alma 2:7)
  • “Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee” (Bible, 1 Samuel 8:7)
  • “Dorotheus the high priest, and the fellow presidents with him, put it to the vote of the people” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 8:5)
  • “chosen by the common voice of the Ionians” (Herodotus, Book 1)
• The minds of the people (p. 87) / the minds of the people (Alma 17:6)
  • “he could no other way bend the minds of the Jews so as to receive Herod” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XV, 1:2)
  • “for nothing does so much cement the minds of men together” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 4:3)
• their rights and privileges (p. 48) / their rights and privileges (Alma 30:27)
  • “made this speech concerning the rights and privileges of Hyrcanus” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 10:7)
• the cause of freedom (p. 146) / the cause of freedom (Alma 46:35)
  • “For not only did he thus distinguish himself beyond others in the cause of his country’s freedom” (Herodotus, Book VI)
  • “courage not to be moved by any dangers in the cause of liberty” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 8:7)
• cause of his country (p. 168) / cause of his country (Alma 62:1)
  • “For not only did he thus distinguish himself beyond others in the cause of his country’s freedom” (Herodotus, Book VI)
  • “Their bodies they spend ungrudgingly in their country’s cause” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter III)
• the cause of their country (p. 34) / the cause of their country (Alma 56:11)
  • “For not only did he thus distinguish himself beyond others in the cause of his country’s freedom” (Herodotus, Book VI)
  • “Their bodies they spend ungrudgingly in their country’s cause” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter III)
• the rights of their country (p. 79) / the rights of their country (3 Nephi 6:30)
  • “she came and loudly accused Athens of breach of the treaty and aggression on the rights of Peloponnese” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter III)
  • “he compelled the Jews to dissolve the laws of their country” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 1:2)
• the freedom of their country (p. 172) / the freedom of their country (Alma 59:13)
  • “For not only did he thus distinguish himself beyond others in the cause of his country’s freedom” (Herodotus, Book VI)
  • “to plead for the liberty of their country” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 6:1)
  • “freedom of the city of Rome” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVI, 2:3)
  • “men whose glory it is to be always ready to give battle for the liberty of their own country” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
• the rights for which our ancestors contended (p. 643) / for this cause were the Nephites contending…to defend…their rights (Alma 43:47)
  • (This comparison is disingenuous. The full quote from Alma is “And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion.”)
  • “For this cause I have now called you together” (Herodotus, Book VII)
  • “The Argives, that they would contend for their ancient supremacy” (Thucydides, Chapter XVI)
  • “to show that they mean to defend themselves against an attack” (Thucydides, Chapter XIX)
  • “to come out, as many as chose, to their homes without fearing for their rights or persons” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
  • “Be ye not afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses” (Bible, Nehemiah 4:14)
  • “even securing for ourselves the freedom which our fathers gave to Hellas” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V)
• (Quoting Washington) “the welfare of their country” (p. 129) / and welfare of my country (Alma 60:36)
  • “But those who have the welfare of the state at heart should counteract them” (Aristotle, Politics, Book VI, Part V)
  • “he should keep quiet and offer up prayers for his own welfare and for that of his country” (Plato, Dialogues, The Seventh Letter)
  • “he was a prodigious lover of liberty, and an admirer of a democracy in government; and did ever prefer the public welfare before his own advantage” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 5:2)
  • “leaders are required to show a special care for the common welfare” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V)
• the justice of their cause (p. 36) / the justice of the cause (p. 154) / the justice of the cause (Alma 46:29)
  • “but Aristobulus’s three hundred talents had more weight with him than the justice of the cause” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 6:3)
• to take up arms in defence of their rights (p. 90) / to take up arms in defence of their country (Alma 51:20)
  • “who necessitated us to take up arms against the Romans” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XX, 11:1)
  • “And not contented with ideas derived only from words of the advantages which are bound up with the defence of your country” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• deprive them of their rights (p. 332) / deprive them of their rights (Alma 2:4)
  • “I will therefore that the nation of the Jews be not deprived of their rights and privileges, on account of the madness of Caius” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIX, 5:2)
• to maintain their rights (p. 337) / to maintain their rights (Alma 51:6)
  • “and every body caught up their arms, in order to maintain the liberty of their metropolis” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 4:2)
  • “for we shall alike preserve the rights and hear all the causes of our confederates” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 12:4)
• welfare and happiness (p. 648) / welfare and happiness (Helaman 12:2)
  • “for the commencement of their hopes of future prosperity and happiness” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 5:6)
  • “leaders are required to show a special care for the common welfare” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V)
• every man might (p. 628) / every man might (Mosiah 29:34)
  • “oh that I were made judge in the land, that every man which hath any suit or cause might come unto me, and I would do him justice!” (Bible, 2 Samuel 15:4)
• stand or fall (p. 104) / stand or fall (Alma 41:7)
  • “to his own master he standeth or falleth” (Bible, Romans 14:4)
  • “you chose the Athenians, and with them you must stand or fall” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
• freemen (p. 175) / freemen (Alma 51:6)
  • “he also left some of the horsemen, called the Freemen, with Herod” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 13:3)
  • “killing all the freemen that fell into their hands” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XVI)
  • “if they be looked upon as freemen” (Herodotus, Book 4)
• class of men (p. 601) / class of people (Alma 32:2)
  • “Farmers are a class of men that are always more ready to serve in person than in purse” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V)
  • “much of the work was done by each class of workpeople” (Herodotus, Book 1)
  • “there were four classes of men among those of Cyrene” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 7:2)
• ranks and classes (p. 636) / divided into classes (4 Nephi 1:26)
  • “The Egyptians are divided into seven distinct classes” (Herodotus, Book 2)
  • “they are parted into four classes; and so far are the juniors inferior to the seniors” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 8:10)
  • “Now all the soldiery marched out beforehand by companies, and in their several ranks, under their several commanders” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 5:4)
• high birth (p. 236) / high birth (Alma 51:8)
  • “nor by the dignity of men eminent for either their riches or their high birth” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IX, 1:1)
• to be supported by the labor of the poor, or the taxation (p. 624) / supported in their laziness…by the taxes (Mosiah 11:6)
  • “Now it happened that the Egyptians grew delicate and lazy, as to pains-taking, and gave themselves up to other pleasures, and in particular to the love of gain” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book II, 9:1)
  • “But when, upon his mustering his soldiers, he perceived that his treasures were deficient, and there was a want of money in them, for all the taxes were not paid, by reason of the seditions” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 7:2)
• the powers of the earth (p. 551) / the powers of the earth (3 Nephi 28:39)
  • “These ascribe all to fate [or providence], and to God, and yet allow, that to act what is right, or the contrary, is principally in the power of men” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 8:14)
  • “where Caesar and Antony were to fight for the supreme power of the world” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XV, 5:1)
• the God of nature (p. 76) / The God of nature (1 Nephi 19:12)
  • “he who has not contemplated the mind of nature which is said to exist in the stars” (Plato, The Laws, Book XII)
  • “it was agreeable to the will of God and the law of nature” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IV, 8:48)
• the great Jehovah (p. 144) / the great Jehovah (Moroni 10:34)
  • “but my name Jehovah was I not known to them” (Bible, Exodus 6:3)
  • “And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God” (Bible, Nehemiah 8:6)
  • “The great God that formed al things both rewardeth the fool, and rewardeth transgressors” (Bible, Proverbs 26:10)
• Great Spirit (p. 285) / Great Spirit (Alma 18:2)
  • ‘What is he, Diotima?’ ‘He is a great spirit (daimon), and like all spirits he is intermediate between the divine and the mortal’ (Plato, Dialogues, Symposium)
  • “And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God” (Bible, Nehemiah 8:6)
  • “as not being in his own power, but moved to say what he did by the Divine Spirit” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IV, 6:5)
• neck of land (p. 120) / neck of land (Alma 22:32)
  • “attempted to cut through this narrow neck of land” (Herodotus, Book 1)
• narrow passage (p. 146) / narrow passage (Mormon 2:29)
  • “which stopped up the narrow passages, they retired to the camp” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 15:5)
  • “encompass the building, leaving only a narrow passage by which it is approached” (Herodotus, Book II)
  • “and so arrived in time to occupy the narrow pass between two hills” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
• the river Elk (p. 203) / the river Sidon (Alma 3:3)
  • “by birth a Jew, but brought up at Sidon with one of the Roman freed-men” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 7:1)
• Moravian town (p. 286) / Morianton (Alma 50:25)
  • Moriah (Bible, 2 Chronicles 3:1/Genesis 22:2)
  • “a place called formerly the Citadel, though afterwards its name was changed to Antonia” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 3:3)
  • Eshton (Bible, 1 Chronicles 4:11)
• the art of war (p. 270) / the arts of war (Ether 13:16)
  • “novices in the art of war” (Thucydides, Book VI, Chapter XX)
  • “to fight with one that was skilled in the art of war” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, 9:3)
• a council of war (p. 300) / a council of war (Alma 52:19)
  • “To the end he called the commanders that were under him to a council of war” (Josephus, Wars, Book III, 7:8)
  • “they stopped at that place, and held a council of war” (Herodotus, Book 8)
  • “The Athenians, seeing them closing up in the harbour and informed of their further designs, called a council of war” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
• to carry the point (p. 108) / not gain the point (Alma 46:29)
  • “which he might prevent by placing his camp round about them; and that they should think it a great point gained” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 2:3)
  • “Having thus gained their point, the delegates returned home at once” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IV)
• a full detail of their proceedings (p. 38) / an account of their proceedings (Mosiah 28:9)
  • “These proceedings of the people in those countries occasioned perplexity and trouble to Moses” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book III, 2:2)
  • “gave an account in order of the several discoveries that had been made” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 32:4)
  • “Of these conquests I shall pass by the greater portion, and given an account of those only which gave him the most trouble” (Herodotus, Book I)
  • “The following are the proceedings on occasion of the assembly at Bubastis” (Herodotus, Book II)
• supplies of provisions (p. 208) / supplies of provisions (Alma 55:34)
  • “This Simon had his supply of provisions from the city, in opposition to the seditious” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 1:4)
• fallen into his hands (p. 145) / fallen into his hands (Alma 53:11)
  • “that it was much better to fall into the hands of God, than into those of his enemies” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VII, 13:2)
  • “the two next by falling into the hands of Gratus and Ptolemeus” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 4:3)
• the prisoners who fell into his hands (p. 191) / the prisoners who fell into his hands (Alma 52:8)
  • “that it was much better to fall into the hands of God, than into those of his enemies” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VII, 13:2)
  • “we are prisoners who surrendered of their own accord” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
  • “killing all the freemen that fell into their hands” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XVI)
• surrendered themselves prisoners of war (p. 182) / surrendered themselves prisoners of war (Alma 57:14)
  • “insomuch that all Perea had either surrendered themselves, or were taken by the Romans” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 7:6)
  • “immediately set free all the prisoners of war in their possession” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XV)
• his whole army (p. 224) / his whole army (Helaman 1:20)
  • “he came himself with his whole army” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 15:5)
  • “here he was cut off with his whole army” (Herodotus, Book V)
• with a part of his army (p. 191) / with a part of his army (Alma 56:33)
  • “for as he set a part of his army round about Gaza itself, so with the rest he overran their land” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIII, 5:5)
  • “Phraortes attacked them, but perished in the expedition with the greater part of his army” (Herodotus, Book I)
• at their head (p. 241) / at their head (Alma 48:7)
  • “out of envy at his glorious expedition at the head of his army” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book II, 11:1)
  • “having at their head ten generals” (Herodotus, Book VI)
• thus reduced (p. 241) / been reduced (Alma 56:10)
  • “but the king of Syria brought him low, and by an expedition against him did so greatly reduce his forces, that there remained no more of so great an army than ten thousand armed men” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IX, 8:5)
• led captive (p. 241) / led captive (Alma 40:13)
  • “There were also led captive about thirty-two thousand virgins” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IV, 7:1)
  • “Will not your city be the first we shall seek to lead away captive?” (Herodotus, Book III)
• threw down their arms (p. 393) / threw down their weapons (Alma 52:38)
  • “but when they had lost their general, they were put to flight, and threw down their arms” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 10:5)
• laying down their arms at the feet of the victorious Washington (p. 484) / threw down their weapons of war at the feet of Moroni (Alma 52:38)
  • “and assured them, that if they would lay down their arms, he would secure them from any harm” (Josephus, Wars, Book III, 7:32)
  • “Whereupon three thousand of John’s party left him immediately, who came to Josephus, and threw their arms down at his feet” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 21:7)
• and laying them at the feet of the conqueror (p. 240) / and cast them at the feet of the Nephites (Alma 55:23)
  • “Whereupon three thousand of John’s party left him immediately, who came to Josephus, and threw their arms down at his feet” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 21:7)
• lay on their arms through the night (p. 232) / when the night came they slept upon their swords (Ether 15:20)
  • “both sides also lay in their armor during the night time, and thereby were ready at the first appearance of light to go to battle” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 7:3)
  • “and placed watchmen beyond his camp, and kept all his forces armed all night” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIII, 5:10)
  • “The citizens went so far as to sleep one night armed in the temple of Theseus within the walls” (Thucydides, Book VI, Chapter XIX)
• to strengthen the hands of general Arnold (p. 256) / strengthen the hand of the Nephites (Alma 2:18)
  • “The charges which strengthen our hands in the war against the Athenians would on our own showing be merited by ourselves” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
  • “to strengthen their hands in the works of the Lord God of Israel” (Apocrypha, I Esdras 7:15)
• the warm altercations between them (p. 463) / a warm contention (Alma 50:26)
  • “Those that were of the warmest tempers thought he should bring the whole army against the city” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 12:1)
  • “and being a young man, of a warm temper” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VIII, 7:8)
• A warm, but short, action (p. 207) / a warm dispute (Alma 51:4)
  • “Those that were of the warmest tempers thought he should bring the whole army against the city” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 12:1)
  • “and being a young man, of a warm temper” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VIII, 7:8)
• British troops had yet met with no check (p. 428) / did arrive in season to check them (Alma 57:18)
  • “and from their summit and base kept in check all of the enemy that came up” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IX)
  • “whether it were possible to check the growing power of that people before it came to a head” (Herodotus, Book I)
• to harass their march (p. 269) / did harass them (Alma 51:32)
  • “and avoided by any means to come to a pitched battle; yet did he greatly harass the enemy by his assiduity” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XV, 5:1)
  • “and accordingly continually harassed and made war upon the new settlers” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter XI)
• were obliged to retreat in great confusion (p. 207) / were obliged to flee before them (Alma 59:8)
  • “and the rest of the entire nation were obliged to save themselves by flight” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 16:4)
  • “some of those who were obliged to leap down from the cliffs without their shields escaped with their lives and did not perish like the rest” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXII)
• were obliged to fly (p. 103) / were obliged to flee before them (Alma 59:8)
  • “but followed him at his heels; he was also obliged to make haste in his attempt” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 6:6)
  • “and the rest of the entire nation were obliged to save themselves by flight” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 16:4)
• fled in confusion (p. 374) / fled in much confusion (Alma 52:28)
  • “the Romans were at length brought into confusion, and put to flight, and ran away from their camp” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 2:4)
  • “they forgot their retreats and fled away in confusion to the deserts lying towards the north” (Herodotus, Book IV)
• prepare to meet him (p. 159) / they did prepare to meet them (Alma 2:12)
  • “Now when the Egyptians had overtaken the Hebrews, they prepared to fight them” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book II, 15:3)
  • “who on their part advanced to meet them with all their ships that were fit for service” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter II)
  • “they went out to meet them with seventy ships” (Herodotus, Book VI)
• not sufficiently strong (p. 229) / not sufficiently strong (Alma 56:23)
  • “most of the place being sufficiently strong by nature without further fortifications” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XII)
  • “he came with a sufficient body of soldiers” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 10:7)
  • “Now he chose for the war such an army as was sufficient” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 20:8)
• to make an attack (p. 229) / to make an attack (Alma 56:22)
  • “he was in doubt where he could possibly make an attack on any side” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 6:2)
  • “in the event of the enemy bringing a fleet to make an attack by sea” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• entrenchments to be thrown up (p. 105) / bank which had been thrown up (Alma 49:18)
  • “on the forty-seventh day [of the siege] the banks cast up by the Romans were become higher than the wall” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 7:33)
  • “A trench was dug all around the temple and the consecrated ground, and the earth thrown up from the excavation made to do duty as a wall, in which stakes were also planted” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
  • “and out of the ditch, instead of a wall they cast up the earth” (Thucydides, Hobbes Translation, Book IV, 89)
• chief commander (p. 398) / chief commander (Alma 46:11)
  • “Four hundred and thirty men they lost, and their chief commanders all three” (Thucydides, Hobbes Translation, Book II, 79)
  • “and this out of jealousy that he would obtain the chief command of the army” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VII, 11:7)
• to fall on the rear of the British (p. 183) / to fall upon them in their rear (Alma 56:23)
  • “if the enemy advanced into the plain against the troops of Agis, they might fall upon his rear with their cavalry” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XVI)
  • “he also parted his army into three bodies, and fell upon the backs of their enemies” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 8:3)
• in the rear (p. 147) / in the rear (Alma 56:23)
  • “who were to rise up at the moment of the onset behind the projecting left wing of the enemy, and to take them in the rear” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter XI)
  • “he also parted his army into three bodies, and fell upon the backs of their enemies” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 8:3)
• cut off the retreat (p. 277) / their retreat cut off (p. 147) / cut off the way of their retreat (3 Nephi 4:24)
  • “before the Athenians were aware, cut off their retreat to their ships” (Herodotus, Book V)
  • “and slew a great number of them, and cut off the retreat of the rest of the multitude” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 1:8)
• concealed himself in a wood, with fifteen hundred men (p. 203) / part of the army of Moroni was concealed (Alma 43:34)
  • “while he came and sat upon his judgment-seat, which seat was so prepared in the open place of the city, that it concealed the army that lay ready to oppress them” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVIII, 3:1)
  • “The mistakes and forces of the enemy the wood would in a great measure conceal from him” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XII)
• surrounded on all sides (p. 311) / surrounded them on every side (Mosiah 21:5)
  • “nor were strong enough to fight with the Romans any longer upon the square, as being surrounded on all sides” (Josephus, Wars, Book VI, 7:2)
  • “When they advanced the next day the Syracusans surrounded and attacked them on every side” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
• After two days wandering in the wilderness (p. 224) / after many days’ wandering in the wilderness (Mosiah 9:4)
  • “and to permit them no longer to wander in the wilderness” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book III, 15:2)
• took possession of the capitol (p. 204) / took possession of the city (Alma 51:23)
  • “The Persians, on their return, took possession of an empty town” (Herodotus, Book I)
  • “The chief men of the senate wrote to the king, and desired that he would come to them, and take possession of their city” (Life of Flavius Josephus, 68)
• in possession of the first city in the union (p. 205) / took possession of the city (Alma 51:23) / in possession of the city of Zarahemla (Helaman 1:22) / took possession of the city (Alma 51:23)
  • “we find the Scythians again in possession of the country above the Tauri” (Herodotus, Book IV)
  • “although they might have come over to us and been now again in possession of their city” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IX)
  • “The Persians, on their return, took possession of an empty town” (Herodotus, Book I)
  • “The chief men of the senate wrote to the king, and desired that he would come to them, and take possession of their city” (Life of Flavius Josephus, 68)
• general Montgomery…embarrassed with bad roads…and the murmur of his little army (p. 104) / our embarrassments (Alma 58:9) / my little army (Alma 56:33) / we do not desire to murmur (Alma 58:35) / were this all we had suffered we would not murmur (Alma 60:4)
  • “and as soon as he had gotten together no small army of foreigners” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 15:3)
  • “and a great many were embarrassed with shipwrecks” (Josephus, Wars, Book III, 9:3)
  • “And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness” (Bible, Exodus 16:2)
• repeated disappointment (p. 98) / he met with a disappointment (Alma 51:31)
  • “they had feared the reinforcement brought by Demosthenes, and deep, in consequence, was the despondency of the Athenians, and great their disappointment” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
  • “but when they went out to fight, they were always disappointed” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 9:4)
• Dissensions ran high among the inhabitants (p. 204) / dissensions among the people (Alma 51:16)
  • “the affairs of the Jews became very tumultuous; as also how the tyrants rose up against them, and fell into dissensions among themselves” (Josephus, Wars, Preface, 9)
  • “and never shrunk till they had overthrown themselves with private dissensions” (Thucydides, Hobbes Translation, Book II, 65)
• they determined to maintain (p. 170) / they were determined to maintain (Alma 56:26)
  • “How the senators determined to restore the democracy” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIX, Chapter 2 heading)
  • “helped us to maintain our independence” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IX)
• unshaken firmness (p. 242) / firmness unshaken (Mormon 9:28)
  • “she went to her death with an unshaken firmness of mind” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XV, 7:6)
• destroyed by the sword (p. 221) / destroyed by the sword (Alma 57:23)
  • “that they might be destroyed upon their theatres, by the sword and by the wild beasts” (Josephus, Wars, Book VI, 9:2)
  • “as to those who are desirous to die by the sword” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 12:1)
• death and destruction (p. 303) / death and destruction (Alma 28:14)
  • “whether this is a discovery of their own, or whether they have learned from some one else this new sort of death and destruction” (Plato, Dialogues, Euthydemus)
• an ignominious death (p. 584) / an ignominious death (Alma 1:15)
  • “he died ignominiously by the dangerous manner of his assault” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VII, 7:2)
• fought and bled (p. 617) / fought and bled (Alma 60:9)
  • “these men, in the assertion of their resolve not to lose her, nobly fought and died” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
  • “and fought and conquered them” (Herodotus, Book VI)
• delight in blood (p. 137) / delight in blood (Mosiah 11:19)
  • “I swear by the sun, the sovereign lord of the Massagetae, bloodthirsty as thou art, I will give thee thy fill of blood” (Herodotus, Book I)
  • “the Thracian race, like the bloodiest of the barbarians, being even more so when it has nothing to fear” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXI)
  • “It was known to every body that he was fond of war” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 2:1)
  • “rather than to fight hand to hand with men that love murdering” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 6:2)
• spilling human blood (p. 78) / spill your blood (Alma 44:11)
  • “as if the servant had spilled the blood on purpose in that place” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 3:6)
  • “and thank god, who hath hindered thee from shedding human blood” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, 13:7)
• blood that had been spilt (p. 604) / blood was spilt (Alma 57:9)
  • “as if the servant had spilled the blood on purpose in that place” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 3:6)
  • “they had once been partners with them in shedding the blood of their own countrymen” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 5:5)
• having received a dangerous wound (p. 147) / having received a wound (Mosiah 20:13)
  • “but received a wound and found himself unable to force the position” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
  • “and even Mardonius himself received a wound” (Herodotus, Book VI)
• watery grave (p. 215) / watery grave (1 Nephi 18:18)
  • “if he wished for a grave on dry land, or without loss of time to leap overboard into the sea” (Herodotus, Book I)
• dead and dreary (p. 599) / dark and dreary (1 Nephi 8:4)
  • “which did not happen at this time, for a dark and dismal night oppressed them” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book II, 16:3)
• perished in the wilderness (p. 634) / perished in the wilderness (1 Nephi 5:2)
  • “Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water” (Bible, Numbers 21:5)
  • “They shall perish, but thou shalt endure” (Bible, Psalm 102:26)
• robbed…and plundered (p. 99) / rob and plunder (Mosiah 10:17)
  • “and fell a robbing others after various manners, and these particularly plundered the places that were about the city” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 18:1)
• Among the slain (p. 121) / among the number who were slain (Helaman 1:30)
  • “Among the slain was also Procles, the colleague of Demosthenes” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter XI)
  • “Search was made among the slain by order of the queen” (Herodotus, Book I)
• suffered much loss (p. 532) / suffered much loss (Alma 25:6)
  • “in which both parties suffered great loss” (Herodotus, Book I)
  • “with difficulty made good their passage to Olpae, suffering heavy loss on the way” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter XI)
  • “and yet might suffer loss by an attack from an unseen position” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XII)
• great loss (p. 224) / great loss (Alma 57:23)
  • “they had been forced to retire with great loss” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VII, 7:2)
  • “and a battle was fought, in which both parties suffered great loss” (Herodotus, Book I)
• inexpressible (p. 272) / inexpressible (Alma 36:14)
  • “you might then see the whole province full of inexpressible calamities” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 18:2)
• ferocious nations (p. 114) / wicked and ferocious (Alma 47:36)
  • “for as they are naturally a most barbarous and bloody nation” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 5:1)
  • “The one producing a temper of hardness and ferocity, the other of softness and effeminacy, I replied” (Plato, Republic, Book III)
  • “but they charged straight for the walls, yelling out an unintelligible and ferocious war cry” (Plato, the Seventh Letter)
• a monster (p. 665) / awful monster (2 Nephi 9:10)
  • “In like manner do you treat all that is of a monstrous nature when it is looked on” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IV, 8:40)
  • “For the sea about Athos abounds in monsters beyond all others” (Thucydides, Book VI)
• havoc (p. 278) / havoc (Helaman 11:27)
  • “a famine and a pestilential distemper, and made great havoc of them” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book X, 7:4)
  • “and committed such havoc as to cripple them completely” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VII)
• to glut the ambition of a weak individual (p. 697) / we do not glut ourselves upon the labors of this people (Alma 30:32)
  • “an unjust verdict or the authority of the strong arm to glut the animosities of the hour” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
• the work of slaughter (p. 268) / the work of death (Alma 43:37)
  • “at length undertook the work of bringing Alexander and Aristobulus to their graves” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 26:2)
  • “they did themselves the works of war and tyranny, after an insolent manner” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 5:5)
• scene of carnage (p. 316) / scene of blood and carnage (Mormon 5:8)
  • “Besides this, a large portion were killed outright, the carnage being very great” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
  • “for a long while they disbelieved even the most respectable of the soldiers who had themselves escaped from the scene of action and clearly reported the matter, a destruction so complete not being thought credible” (Thucydides, Book VIII, Chapter XXIV)
  • “she wrote an account of this treacherous scene to Cleopatra, and how her son was murdered” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XV, 3:5)
• A part of the Muskingum tribe had professed themselves Christians of the Moravian sect. They considered war of any kind as inconsistent both with the laws of religion and humanity. They refused to take part with the numerous hostile tribes of savages, in the war against the Americans. (p. 285) / Now there was not one soul among all the people who had been converted unto the Lord that would take up arms against their brethren; nay, they would not even make any preparations for war (Alma 24:6)
  • “But they said, We will not come forth, neither will we do the king’s commandment, to profane the sabbath day. So then they gave them the battle with all speed. Howbeit they answered them not, neither cast they a stone at them, nor stopped the places where they lay hid; but said, Let us die all in our innocency: heaven and earth shall testify for us, that ye put us to death wrongfully. So they rose up against them in battle on the sabbath, and slew them, with their wives and children, and their cattle, to the number of a thousand people” (Apocrypha, I Maccabees 2:34-38)
• they, without resistance, suffered themselves to be bound and inhumanely butchered (p. 286) / they suffered themselves to be slain (Alma 27:3)
  • (see above)
• neither the pen of the historian, or the imagination of the poet, can fully describe (p. 385) / impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write (Mormon 4:11)
  • “Now it is impossible to describe the multitude of the shows as they deserve, and the magnificence of them all “(Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 5:5)
  • “I saw the back-bones and ribs of serpents in such numbers as it is impossible to describe” (Herodotus, Book II)
• passions whetted by revenge (p. 281) / But in this war, they seemed to have lost those generous feelings of compassion to the vanquished foe (p. 278) / suffered themselves to be governed either by vindictive passions, or their feelings of resentment (p. 438) / For so exceedingly do they anger that it seemeth me that they have no fear of death; and they have lost their love, one towards another; and they thirst after blood and revenge continually (Moroni 9:5)
  • “he preferred the obligations of nature before the passion of revenge” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 25:4)
  • “and this out of his resentment of their old quarrels with him” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 7:3)
  • “and now all parts were full of those that were slain, by the rage of the Romans at the long duration of the siege, and by the zeal of the Jews that were on Herod’s side, who were not willing to leave one of their adversaries alive; so they were murdered continually in the narrow streets and in the houses by crowds, and as they were flying to the temple for shelter, and there was no pity taken of either infants or the aged, nor did they spare so much as the weaker sex; nay, although the king sent about, and besought them to spare the people, yet nobody restrained their hands from the slaughter, but, as if they were a company of madmen, they fell upon persons of all ages, without distinction” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 16:2)
  • “yet am I resolved that no one who thirsts after my blood shall escape punishment, although the evidence should extend itself to all my sons” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 32:2)
• They waited long, amidst penury, hunger, and cold, for the necessary supplies (p. 211) / we were about to perish for the want of food (Alma 58:7)
  • “while those that were afraid of being caught, and for that reason staid in the city, perished for want of food” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 1:7)
  • “There his army was in great straits for want of food” (Herodotus, Book VI)
  • “attacked in front and behind, began to give way, and overcome by the odds against them and exhausted from want of food” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XII)
• they were treated with as little mercy (p. 432) / They are without order and without mercy (Moroni 9:18)
  • “the multitude would be destroyed by the soldiers without mercy” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 2:2)
  • “he gave his troops orders to slay all the other Lydians who came in their way without mercy” (Herodotus, Book I)
• war among themselves (p. 653) / war among themselves (1 Nephi 22:13)
  • “But I did not comply with them, thinking it a terrible thing to begin a civil war among them” (The Life of Flavius Josephus, 19)
• impede their progress (p. 270) / impede the progress (Alma 60:30)
  • “This was the impediment that lay in the way of this his entire glorious progress” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 17:6)
• the intrigues of the governmental faction (p. 86) / the intrigues of the Lamanites (Alma 55:27)
  • “they destroyed the corn and had some hopes of the city coming over through the intrigues of a faction within” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VIII)
  • “he had also thought of preventing her intrigues, by putting her to death” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XV, 4:2)
• combinations (p. 92) / combinations (2 Nephi 9:9)
  • “it was this clause that was the real origin of the panic in Peloponnese, by exciting suspicions of a Lacedaemonian and Athenian combination against their liberties” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XV)
• to combine for the destruction of America (p. 87) / they did combine against the people of the Lord (3 Nephi 6:29)
  • “they prepared therefore their chariots, and gathered their soldiery together, their cities also combined together, and drew over to them Askelon and Ekron” (Antiquites, Book V, 3:1)
  • “the Ambraciots having come and urged them to combine with them in attacking Amphilochian Argos” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter XI)
• contrary to the laws of (p. 635) / contrary to the laws of (Helaman 6:23)
  • “and to pull down what had been erected contrary to the laws of their country” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 33:2)
• while the Ganges and the Indus were reddened with the blood, and covered with the slaughtered bodies of men (p. 338) / the river Sidon, throwing the bodies of the Lamanites who had been slain into the waters (Alma 2:34) / who had been slain upon the bank of the river Sidon were cast into the waters (Alma 3:3)
  • “the river ran with their blood” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IX, 3:2)
  • “and he slew all that he overtook, as far as Jordan; and when he had driven the whole multitude to the river side, where they were stopped by the current, (for it had been augmented lately by rains, and was not fordable,) he put his soldiers in array over against them; so the necessity the others were in provoked them to hazard a battle, because there was no place whither they could flee. They then extended themselves a very great way along the banks of the river, and sustained the darts that were thrown at them as well as the attacks of the horsemen, who beat many of them, and pushed them into the current. At which fight, hand to hand, fifteen thousand of them were slain, while the number of those that were unwillingly forced to leap into Jordan was prodigious… the whole of the country through which they had fled was filled with slaughter, and Jordan could not be passed over, by reason of the dead bodies that were in it, but because the lake Asphaltitis was also full of dead bodies, that were carried down into it by the river” (Wars of the Jews, Book IV, Chapter 7:5-6)
• (Quoting a letter from a British officer in India) “The carnage was great; we trampled thick on the dead bodies that were strewed in the way” (p. 597) / scene of bloodshed and carnage, that the whole face of the land was covered with the bodies of the dead (Ether 14:21) / leaving the bodies of both men, women, and children strewed upon the face of the land (Ether 14:22)
  • “Besides this, a large portion were killed outright, the carnage being very great, and not exceeded by any in this Sicilian war” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
  • “While others were so greedy of gain, that they would go in among the dead bodies that lay on heaps, and tread upon them” (Josephus, Wars, Book VI, 9:4)
  • “for the ground did no where appear visible, for the dead bodies that lay on it; but the soldiers went over heaps of those bodies, as they ran upon such as fled from them” (Josephus, Wars, Book VI, 5:1)
  • “obstructed the very lanes with their dead bodies, and made the whole city run down with blood” (Josephus, Wars, Book VI, 8:5)
• a neighboring garrison, where a number of women and children had repaired for safety, and setting fire to both, they enjoyed the infernal pleasure of seeing them perish promiscuously in the flames (p. 280) / the women and children who were consuming in the fire (Alma 14:10)
  • “Many others did the same also, and fled with their children and wives into the desert, and dwelt in caves. But when the king’s generals heard this, they took all the forces they then had in the citadel at Jerusalem, and pursued the Jews…they burnt them as they were in the caves, without resistance…There were about a thousand, with their wives and children, who were smothered and died in these caves” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 6:2)
• he compelled them…to take arms in case of an attack, against their brethren (p. 133) / he commanded them that they should take up arms against their brethren (Alma 2:10)
  • “they forced the Jews that were among them to bear arms against their own countrymen, which it is unlawful for us to do” (Life of Flavius Josephus, 6)
  • “fought against their own kindred” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVII, 10:10)
  • “the Rhodians, Argives by race, were compelled to bear arms against the Dorian Syracusans and their own colonists” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
• precious metals (p. 417) / precious metals (Helaman 6:9)
  • “their precious vessels of silver and of gold” (Bible, Daniel 11:8)
  • “I will make a man more precious than fine gold” (Bible, Isaiah 13:12)
  • “Among the Ethiopians copper is of all metals the most scarce and valuable” (Herodotus, Book III)
  • “and that this was of old esteemed the most precious of all metals” (Dr. Hudson, Josephus Commentary, Josephus, Antiquities, Book XI, 5:2, footnote 8)
• by my own industry (p. 139) / by the hand of my industry (Alma 10:4)
  • “Anthemion, who acquired his wealth, not by accident or gift…but by his own skill and industry” (Plato, Dialogues, Meno)
  • “our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• the fruits of their labors (p. 712) / the fruits of their labors (Alma 40:26)
  • “and those that work in order to its production, of this fruit of their labors” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IV, 8:21)
  • “it is hereditary to us to win virtue as the fruit of labor” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V)
• the more fertile (p. 608) / the more fertile (1 Nephi 16:16)
  • “the most fertile regions of Libya on the south” (Josephus, Wars, Book III, 5:7)
  • “and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter I)
• elegant buildings (p. 608) / elegant and spacious buildings (Mosiah 11:8)
  • “it was a most elegant building, and wonderfully made” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book X, 11:7)
• not far distant (p. 156) / not far distant (Alma 7:7)
  • “for there appeared a might number of people that came from places far distant” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 15:12)
  • “for it was not far distant from the main land” (Thucydides, Hobbes Translation, Book III, 51)
• to the reader (p. 324) / to the reader (Jacob 7:27)
  • “we have no such laws ourselves, an epitome of which I will present to the reader” (Josephus, Against Apion, Book II, 15)
• But we shall see (p. 195) / But behold, we shall see (Alma 51:10)
  • “But we shall speak of that matter more accurately in our following history” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 21:3)
  • “But we shall relate those things in their proper places hereafter” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VIII, 8:4)
  • “and we shall see what will become of his dreams” (Bible, Genesis 37:20)
• future generations (p. 609) / future generations (Alma 37:19)
  • “to be a witness to future generations of what he had foretold” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, 4:6)
  • “to leave behind thee to all future generations a memory beyond even Harmodius and Aristogeiton” (Herodotus, Book VI)
• Some future day (p. 304) / some future day (Moroni 1:4)
  • “lest thou bring destruction on thine own head at some future time” (Herodotus, Book I)
  • “in order that if at any future time peace should be made with Athens” (Thucydides, Chapter X)
  • “But in future ages the people added new banks” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 5:1)
• future period (p. 287) / future period (1 Nephi 7:13)
  • “lest thou bring destruction on thine own head at some future time” (Herodotus, Book I)
  • “in order that if at any future time peace should be made with Athens” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
  • “But in future ages the people added new banks” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 5:1)
  • “Of the Ionians at this period, one people, the Milesians, were in no danger of attack” (Herodotus, Book I)
• at this period (p. 25) / at this period (Alma 51:19)
  • “Of the Ionians at this period, one people, the Milesians, were in no danger of attack” (Herodotus, Book I)
• in so short a time (p. 162) / space of time (p. 86) / in so short a space of time (Alma 56:50)
  • “which was finished in so short a time” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 5:7)
  • “to live even the shortest space of time after them” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 9:1)
  • “After the expiration of that space of time” (Herodotus, Book II)
• the commencement of (p. 98) / the commencement of (Alma 51:1)
  • “and for the commencement of their hopes of future prosperity and happiness” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 5:6)
  • “at the commencement of the summer solstice” (Herodotus, Book II)
  • “Zeal is always at its height at the commencement of an undertaking” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• The progress of (p. 85) / the progress of (Alma 60:30)
  • “Of which matter I shall treat more accurately in the progress of this history” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVII, 2:2)
  • “But the Plataeans, observing the progress of the mound” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
  • “and it was not without some little influence on the progress of the war” (Herodotus, Book IV)
• at this critical conjuncture (p. 39) / the critical moment (p. 110) / era was truly critical (p. 204) / this was a critical time (Alma 51:9)/ critical circumstances (Alma 57:16)
  • “His arrival chanced at a critical moment” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXI)
  • “as he thought that they were in a critical position” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXI)
• awful situation (p. 213) / awful situation (Mosiah 2:40)
  • “reflecting not merely on the awful fate in store for us, but also on the character of the sufferers” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
• dangerous crisis (p. 29)/ awful crisis (Alma 34:34)
  • “return us like for like, remembering that this is that very crisis in which he who lends aid is most a friend” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter II)
• to shrink (p. 572) / to shrink (Alma 43:48)
  • “who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
  • “which I particularly shrink from mentioning” (Herodotus, Book II)
• In these circumstances (p. 595) / in these circumstances (Alma 55:23)
  • “and was in great distress to know what he should do in these circumstances” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 19:7)
• genius to take advantage (p. 617) / prospered according to his genius (Alma 30:17)
  • “was greatly envied by his brethren, as being of a genius much above them, and such a one as they might well envy” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 6:6)
  • “So superfluously abundant were the resources from which the genius of Perclles foresaw an easy triumph in the war over the unaided forces of the Peloponnesians” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• Alarming (p. 26) / this was alarming (Alma 2:3)
  • “their counsels were disordered, and it alarmed them to find that the enemy had discovered those their intentions” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIII, 5:10)
  • “make sure of their never rebelling against thee, or alarming thee more” (Herodotus, Book I)
  • “The most alarming feature in the case is the constant change of measures with which we appear to be threatened” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IX)
• He bade adieu (p. 133) / Brethren, adieu (Jacob 7:27)
  • “with such portion of their goods and chattels as the vessels could bear, bade adieu to Cyrnus and sailed to Rhegium” (Herodotus, Book I)
  • “Thus have I set down the genealogy of my family as I have found it described in the public records, and so bid adieu to those who calumniate me” (Josephus, Life of Flavius Josephus, 1)

PARALLELS FOUND IN JOSEPHUS

Most of the similarities to the parallels identified by Donofrio can be found in the works of Josephus. I have presented below all of the similarities that can be accounted for by Josephus alone. This should dismantle the claim in the MormonThink article that the parallels between Warren and the Book of Mormon are too numerous to be explained by coincidence:

• sets at defiance both human and divine laws (Warren, p. 12) / ye have set at defiance the commandments of God (Alma 5:18)
  • “and a contempt of both human and divine laws” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, 12:7…‘contempt’ is a synonym for ‘defiance’)
  • “the affairs of the Hebrews were managed uncertainly, and tended to disorder, and to the contempt of God and of the laws” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book V, 8:7)
• law set at defiance (Warren, p. 81) / set at defiance the law (3 Nephi 6:30)
  • “their calamities arose from their contempt of the laws” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book V, 5:2)
• that man, in a state of nature (p. 12) / men that are in a state of nature (Alma 41:11)
  • “having his hand recovered to its natural state” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VIII, 8:5)
  • “But as for his being ensnared by a woman, that is to be ascribed to human nature, which is took weak to resist the temptations to that sin” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book V, 8:12)
• a consciousness of their own guilt (p. 109) / a consciousness of his own guilt (Alma 14:6)
  • “they should seem to be in this difficulty from a consciousness of guilt” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVI, 4:2)
• to conquer or die in defence of their country (p. 202) / to conquer in this place or die (Alma 56:17) / defence of their country (Alma 51:20)
  • “also of encouraging them to undergo dangers, and to die for their countries” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, 14:4)
  • “Nay, indeed, Lysias observing the great spirit of the Jews, how they were prepared to die rather than lose their liberty” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 7:5)
  • “it can never be that we must conquer without bloodshed on our own side” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 1:6)
  • “they believed death with torments must be their punishment, if they did not go on in the defense of the city, they thought it much better to die in war” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 9:1)
• learn wisdom (p. 645) / learn wisdom (2 Nephi 22:30)
  • “And from hence I cannot forbear to admire God, and to learn hence his wisdom and his justice” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XI, 6:11)
  • “their sufferings will be an instruction of wisdom” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IV, 3:2)
• tenderness of a parent (p. 237) / tender parent (1 Nephi 8:37)
  • “as one that was a tender and gentle father to them” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, 5:6)
• Multitudes flocked from every quarter to the American standard (p. 129) / multitudes flocked to the American standard (p. 191) / thousands did flock unto his standard (Alma 62:5)
  • “The multitude also flocked about him greatly, and made mighty acclamations to him” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVII, 12:1)
• a free people (p. 33) / a free people (Alma 21:21)
  • “he would have the greatest honors decreed to him that a free people could bestow” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIX, 3:3)
• the cause of liberty (p. 24) / the cause of liberty (Alma 51:17)
  • “courage not to be moved by any dangers in the cause of liberty” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 8:7)
• that the voice of the people (p. 24) / that the voice of the people (Alma 2:7)
  • “While I was thus speaking, the united voices of all the people joined together, and called me their benefactor and savior” (Josephus, The Life of Flavius Josephus, 50)
• The minds of the people (p. 87) / the minds of the people (Alma 17:6)
  • “he could no other way bend the minds of the Jews so as to receive Herod” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XV, 1:2)
  • “for nothing does so much cement the minds of men together” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 4:3)
• their rights and privileges (p. 48) / their rights and privileges (Alma 30:27)
  • “made this speech concerning the rights and privileges of Hyrcanus” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 10:7)
• the cause of freedom (p. 146) / the cause of freedom (Alma 46:35)
  • “courage not to be moved by any dangers in the cause of liberty” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 8:7)
• the rights of their country (p. 79) / the rights of their country (3 Nephi 6:30)
  • “he compelled the Jews to dissolve the laws of their country” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 1:2)
  • “to plead for the liberty of their country” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 6:1)
• the freedom of their country (p. 172) / the freedom of their country (Alma 59:13)
  • “to plead for the liberty of their country” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 6:1)
  • “freedom of the city of Rome” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVI, 2:3)
• the rights for which our ancestors contended (p. 643) / for this cause were the Nephites contending…to defend…their rights (Alma 43:47)
  • (This comparison is disingenuous. The full quote from Alma is “And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion.”)
  • “immediately took up their arms to fight for themselves” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIX, 5:2)
  • “So they fought the Romans briskely when they least expected it, being both many in number, and prepared for fighting, and of great alacrity, as esteeming their country, their wives, and their children to be in danger” (Josephus, Wars, Book III, 6:1)
  • “they had such a proper opportunity for the recovery of their country’s ancient liberty” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVII, 10:3)
• the justice of their cause (p. 36) / the justice of the cause (p. 154) / the justice of the cause (Alma 46:29)
  • “but Aristobulus’s three hundred talents had more weight with him than the justice of the cause” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 6:3)
• to take up arms in defence of their rights (p. 90) / to take up arms in defence of their country (Alma 51:20)
  • “who necessitated us to take up arms against the Romans” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XX, 11:1)
• deprive them of their rights (p. 332) / deprive them of their rights (Alma 2:4)
  • “I will therefore that the nation of the Jews be not deprived of their rights and privileges, on account of the madness of Caius” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIX, 5:2)
• to maintain their rights (p. 337) / to maintain their rights (Alma 51:6)
  • “and every body caught up their arms, in order to maintain the liberty of their metropolis” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 4:2)
  • “for we shall alike preserve the rights and hear all the causes of our confederates” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 12:4)
• welfare and happiness (p. 648) / welfare and happiness (Helaman 12:2)
  • “for the commencement of their hopes of future prosperity and happiness” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 5:6)
  • “leaders are required to show a special care for the common welfare” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V)
• freemen (p. 175) / freemen (Alma 51:6)
  • “he also left some of the horsemen, called the Freemen, with Herod” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 13:3)
• class of men (p. 601) / class of people (Alma 32:2)
  • “there were four classes of men among those of Cyrene” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 7:2)
• ranks and classes (p. 636) / divided into classes (4 Nephi 1:26)
  • “they are parted into four classes; and so far are the juniors inferior to the seniors” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 8:10)
  • “Now all the soldiery marched out beforehand by companies, and in their several ranks, under their several commanders” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 5:4)
• high birth (p. 236) / high birth (Alma 51:8)
  • “nor by the dignity of men eminent for either their riches or their high birth” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IX, 1:1)
• to be supported by the labor of the poor, or the taxation (p. 624) / supported in their laziness…by the taxes (Mosiah 11:6)
  • “Now it happened that the Egyptians grew delicate and lazy, as to pains-taking, and gave themselves up to other pleasures, and in particular to the love of gain” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book II, 9:1)
  • “But when, upon his mustering his soldiers, he perceived that his treasures were deficient, and there was a want of money in them, for all the taxes were not paid, by reason of the seditions” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 7:2)
• the powers of the earth (p. 551) / the powers of the earth (3 Nephi 28:39)
  • “These ascribe all to fate [or providence], and to God, and yet allow, that to act what is right, or the contrary, is principally in the power of men” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 8:14)
  • “where Caesar and Antony were to fight for the supreme power of the world” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XV, 5:1)
• Great Spirit (p. 285) / Great Spirit (Alma 18:2)
  • “as not being in his own power, but moved to say what he did by the Divine Spirit” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IV, 6:5)
• narrow passage (p. 146) / narrow passage (Mormon 2:29)
  • “which stopped up the narrow passages, they retired to the camp” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 15:5)
• the river Elk (p. 203) / the river Sidon (Alma 3:3)
  • “by birth a Jew, but brought up at Sidon with one of the Roman freed-men” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 7:1)
• the art of war (p. 270) / the arts of war (Ether 13:16)
  • “to fight with one that was skilled in the art of war” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, 9:3)
• a council of war (p. 300) / a council of war (Alma 52:19)
  • “To the end he called the commanders that were under him to a council of war” (Josephus, Wars, Book III, 7:8)
• to carry the point (p. 108) / not gain the point (Alma 46:29)
  • “which he might prevent by placing his camp round about them; and that they should think it a great point gained” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 2:3)
• a full detail of their proceedings (p. 38) / an account of their proceedings (Mosiah 28:9)
  • “These proceedings of the people in those countries occasioned perplexity and trouble to Moses” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book III, 2:2)
  • “gave an account in order of the several discoveries that had been made” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 32:4)
• supplies of provisions (p. 208) / supplies of provisions (Alma 55:34)
  • “This Simon had his supply of provisions from the city, in opposition to the seditious” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 1:4)
• fallen into his hands (p. 145) / fallen into his hands (Alma 53:11)
  • “that it was much better to fall into the hands of God, than into those of his enemies” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VII, 13:2)
  • “the two next by falling into the hands of Gratus and Ptolemeus” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 4:3)
• the prisoners who fell into his hands (p. 191) / the prisoners who fell into his hands (Alma 52:8)
  • “that it was much better to fall into the hands of God, than into those of his enemies” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VII, 13:2)
  • “the Jews had almost taken Cestius’s entire army prisoners” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 19:8)
• surrendered themselves prisoners of war (p. 182) / surrendered themselves prisoners of war (Alma 57:14)
  • “insomuch that all Perea had either surrendered themselves, or were taken by the Romans” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 7:6)
• his whole army (p. 224) / his whole army (Helaman 1:20)
  • “he came himself with his whole army” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 15:5)
• with a part of his army (p. 191) / with a part of his army (Alma 56:33)
  • “for as he set a part of his army round about Gaza itself, so with the rest he overran their land” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIII, 5:5)
• at their head (p. 241) / at their head (Alma 48:7)
  • “out of envy at his glorious expedition at the head of his army” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book II, 11:1)
• thus reduced (p. 241) / been reduced (Alma 56:10)
  • “but the king of Syria brought him low, and by an expedition against him did so greatly reduce his forces, that there remained no more of so great an army than ten thousand armed men” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IX, 8:5)
• led captive (p. 241) / led captive (Alma 40:13)
  • “There were also led captive about thirty-two thousand virgins” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IV, 7:1)
• threw down their arms (p. 393) / threw down their weapons (Alma 52:38)
  • “but when they had lost their general, they were put to flight, and threw down their arms” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 10:5)
• laying down their arms at the feet of the victorious Washington (p. 484) / threw down their weapons of war at the feet of Moroni (Alma 52:38)
  • “and assured them, that if they would lay down their arms, he would secure them from any harm” (Josephus, Wars, Book III, 7:32)
  • “Whereupon three thousand of John’s party left him immediately, who came to Josephus, and threw their arms down at his feet” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 21:7)
• and laying them at the feet of the conqueror (p. 240) / and cast them at the feet of the Nephites (Alma 55:23)
  • “Whereupon three thousand of John’s party left him immediately, who came to Josephus, and threw their arms down at his feet” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 21:7)
• lay on their arms through the night (p. 232) / when the night came they slept upon their swords (Ether 15:20)
  • “both sides also lay in their armor during the night time, and thereby were ready at the first appearance of light to go to battle” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 7:3)
  • “and placed watchmen beyond his camp, and kept all his forces armed all night” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIII, 5:10)
• the warm altercations between them (p. 463) / a warm contention (Alma 50:26)
  • “Those that were of the warmest tempers thought he should bring the whole army against the city” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 12:1)
  • “and being a young man, of a warm temper” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VIII, 7:8)
• A warm, but short, action (p. 207) / a warm dispute (Alma 51:4)
  • “Those that were of the warmest tempers thought he should bring the whole army against the city” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 12:1)
  • “and being a young man, of a warm temper” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VIII, 7:8)
• British troops had yet met with no check (p. 428) / did arrive in season to check them (Alma 57:18)
  • “whether it were possible to check the growing power of that people before it came to a head” (Herodotus, Book I)
• to harass their march (p. 269) / did harass them (Alma 51:32)
  • “and avoided by any means to come to a pitched battle; yet did he greatly harass the enemy by his assiduity” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XV, 5:1)
• were obliged to retreat in great confusion (p. 207) / were obliged to flee before them (Alma 59:8)
  • “and the rest of the entire nation were obliged to save themselves by flight” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 16:4)
• were obliged to fly (p. 103) / were obliged to flee before them (Alma 59:8)
  • “but followed him at his heels; he was also obliged to make haste in his attempt” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 6:6)
  • “and the rest of the entire nation were obliged to save themselves by flight” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 16:4)
• fled in confusion (p. 374) / fled in much confusion (Alma 52:28)
  • “the Romans were at length brought into confusion, and put to flight, and ran away from their camp” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 2:4)
• prepare to meet him (p. 159) / they did prepare to meet them (Alma 2:12)
  • “Now when the Egyptians had overtaken the Hebrews, they prepared to fight them” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book II, 15:3)
  • “what amendment of your affairs will it bring you, if you do not now go out to meet them?” (Josephus, Wars, Book II15:4)
• not sufficiently strong (p. 229) / not sufficiently strong (Alma 56:23)
  • “he came with a sufficient body of soldiers” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 10:7)
  • “Now he chose for the war such an army as was sufficient” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 20:8)
• to make an attack (p. 229) / to make an attack (Alma 56:22)
  • “he was in doubt where he could possibly make an attack on any side” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 6:2)
• entrenchments to be thrown up (p. 105) / bank which had been thrown up (Alma 49:18)
  • “on the forty-seventh day [of the siege] the banks cast up by the Romans were become higher than the wall” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 7:33)
• chief commander (p. 398) / chief commander (Alma 46:11)
  • “and this out of jealousy that he would obtain the chief command of the army” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VII, 11:7)
• to fall on the rear of the British (p. 183) / to fall upon them in their rear (Alma 56:23)
  • “he also parted his army into three bodies, and fell upon the backs of their enemies” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 8:3)
• cut off the retreat (p. 277) / their retreat cut off (p. 147) / cut off the way of their retreat (3 Nephi 4:24)
  • “and slew a great number of them, and cut off the retreat of the rest of the multitude” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 1:8)
• concealed himself in a wood, with fifteen hundred men (p. 203) / part of the army of Moroni was concealed (Alma 43:34)
  • “while he came and sat upon his judgment-seat, which seat was so prepared in the open place of the city, that it concealed the army that lay ready to oppress them” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVIII, 3:1)
• surrounded on all sides (p. 311) / surrounded them on every side (Mosiah 21:5)
  • “nor were strong enough to fight with the Romans any longer upon the square, as being surrounded on all sides” (Josephus, Wars, Book VI, 7:2)
• After two days wandering in the wilderness (p. 224) / after many days’ wandering in the wilderness (Mosiah 9:4)
  • “and to permit them no longer to wander in the wilderness” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book III, 15:2)
• took possession of the capitol (p. 204) / took possession of the city (Alma 51:23)
  • and take possession of their city” (Life of Flavius Josephus, 68)
• in possession of the first city in the union (p. 205) / took possession of the city (Alma 51:23) / in possession of the city of Zarahemla (Helaman 1:22) / took possession of the city (Alma 51:23)
  • “The chief men of the senate wrote to the king, and desired that he would come to them, and take possession of their city” (Life of Flavius Josephus, 68)
• general Montgomery…embarrassed with bad roads…and the murmur of his little army (p. 104) / our embarrassments (Alma 58:9) / my little army (Alma 56:33) / we do not desire to murmur (Alma 58:35) / were this all we had suffered we would not murmur (Alma 60:4)
  • “and as soon as he had gotten together no small army of foreigners” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 15:3)
  • “and a great many were embarrassed with shipwrecks” (Josephus, Wars, Book III, 9:3)
• repeated disappointment (p. 98) / he met with a disappointment (Alma 51:31)
  • “but when they went out to fight, they were always disappointed” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 9:4)
• Dissensions ran high among the inhabitants (p. 204) / dissensions among the people (Alma 51:16)
  • “the affairs of the Jews became very tumultuous; as also how the tyrants rose up against them, and fell into dissensions among themselves” (Josephus, Wars, Preface, 9)
• they determined to maintain (p. 170) / they were determined to maintain (Alma 56:26)
  • “How the senators determined to restore the democracy” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIX, Chapter 2 heading)
  • “and every body caught up their arms, in order to maintain the liberty of their metropolis” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 4:2)
• unshaken firmness (p. 242) / firmness unshaken (Mormon 9:28)
  • “she went to her death with an unshaken firmness of mind” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XV, 7:6)
• destroyed by the sword (p. 221) / destroyed by the sword (Alma 57:23)
  • “that they might be destroyed upon their theatres, by the sword and by the wild beasts” (Josephus, Wars, Book VI, 9:2)
  • “as to those who are desirous to die by the sword” (Josephus, Wars, Book V, 12:1)
• an ignominious death (p. 584) / an ignominious death (Alma 1:15)
  • “he died ignominiously by the dangerous manner of his assault” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VII, 7:2)
• spilling human blood (p. 78) / spill your blood (Alma 44:11)
  • “as if the servant had spilled the blood on purpose in that place” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 3:6)
  • “and thank god, who hath hindered thee from shedding human blood” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, 13:7)
• blood that had been spilt (p. 604) / blood was spilt (Alma 57:9)
  • “as if the servant had spilled the blood on purpose in that place” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 3:6)
  • “they had once been partners with them in shedding the blood of their own countrymen” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 5:5)
• dead and dreary (p. 599) / dark and dreary (1 Nephi 8:4)
  • “which did not happen at this time, for a dark and dismal night oppressed them” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book II, 16:3)
• robbed…and plundered (p. 99) / rob and plunder (Mosiah 10:17)
  • “and fell a robbing others after various manners, and these particularly plundered the places that were about the city” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 18:1)
• great loss (p. 224) / great loss (Alma 57:23)
  • “they had been forced to retire with great loss” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VII, 7:2)
• inexpressible (p. 272) / inexpressible (Alma 36:14)
  • “you might then see the whole province full of inexpressible calamities” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 18:2)
• a monster (p. 665) / awful monster (2 Nephi 9:10)
  • “In like manner do you treat all that is of a monstrous nature when it is looked on” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IV, 8:40)
• havoc (p. 278) / havoc (Helaman 11:27)
  • “a famine and a pestilential distemper, and made great havoc of them” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book X, 7:4)
• the work of slaughter (p. 268) / the work of death (Alma 43:37)
  • “at length undertook the work of bringing Alexander and Aristobulus to their graves” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 26:2)
• neither the pen of the historian, or the imagination of the poet, can fully describe (p. 385) / impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write (Mormon 4:11)
  • “Now it is impossible to describe the multitude of the shows as they deserve, and the magnificence of them all “(Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 5:5)
• passions whetted by revenge (p. 281) / But in this war, they seemed to have lost those generous feelings of compassion to the vanquished foe (p. 278) / suffered themselves to be governed either by vindictive passions, or their feelings of resentment (p. 438) / For so exceedingly do they anger that it seemeth me that they have no fear of death; and they have lost their love, one towards another; and they thirst after blood and revenge continually (Moroni 9:5)
  • “he preferred the obligations of nature before the passion of revenge” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 25:4)
  • “and this out of his resentment of their old quarrels with him” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 7:3)
  • “and now all parts were full of those that were slain, by the rage of the Romans at the long duration of the siege, and by the zeal of the Jews that were on Herod’s side, who were not willing to leave one of their adversaries alive; so they were murdered continually in the narrow streets and in the houses by crowds, and as they were flying to the temple for shelter, and there was no pity taken of either infants or the aged, nor did they spare so much as the weaker sex; nay, although the king sent about, and besought them to spare the people, yet nobody restrained their hands from the slaughter, but, as if they were a company of madmen, they fell upon persons of all ages, without distinction” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 16:2)
  • “yet am I resolved that no one who thirsts after my blood shall escape punishment, although the evidence should extend itself to all my sons” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 32:2)
• They waited long, amidst penury, hunger, and cold, for the necessary supplies (p. 211) / we were about to perish for the want of food (Alma 58:7)
  • “while those that were afraid of being caught, and for that reason staid in the city, perished for want of food” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 1:7)
• they were treated with as little mercy (p. 432) / They are without order and without mercy (Moroni 9:18)
  • “the multitude would be destroyed by the soldiers without mercy” (Josephus, Wars, Book IV, 2:2)
• war among themselves (p. 653) / war among themselves (1 Nephi 22:13)
  • “But I did not comply with them, thinking it a terrible thing to begin a civil war among them” (The Life of Flavius Josephus, 19)
• impede their progress (p. 270) / impede the progress (Alma 60:30)
  • “This was the impediment that lay in the way of this his entire glorious progress” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 17:6)
• the intrigues of the governmental faction (p. 86) / the intrigues of the Lamanites (Alma 55:27)
  • “he had also thought of preventing her intrigues, by putting her to death” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XV, 4:2)
• to combine for the destruction of America (p. 87) / they did combine against the people of the Lord (3 Nephi 6:29)
  • “they prepared therefore their chariots, and gathered their soldiery together, their cities also combined together, and drew over to them Askelon and Ekron” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book V, 3:1)
• contrary to the laws of (p. 635) / contrary to the laws of (Helaman 6:23)
  • “and to pull down what had been erected contrary to the laws of their country” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 33:2)
• while the Ganges and the Indus were reddened with the blood, and covered with the slaughtered bodies of men (p. 338) / the river Sidon, throwing the bodies of the Lamanites who had been slain into the waters (Alma 2:34) / who had been slain upon the bank of the river Sidon were cast into the waters (Alma 3:3)
  • “the river ran with their blood” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book IX, 3:2)
  • “and he slew all that he overtook, as far as Jordan; and when he had driven the whole multitude to the river side, where they were stopped by the current, (for it had been augmented lately by rains, and was not fordable,) he put his soldiers in array over against them; so the necessity the others were in provoked them to hazard a battle, because there was no place whither they could flee. They then extended themselves a very great way along the banks of the river, and sustained the darts that were thrown at them as well as the attacks of the horsemen, who beat many of them, and pushed them into the current. At which fight, hand to hand, fifteen thousand of them were slain, while the number of those that were unwillingly forced to leap into Jordan was prodigious… the whole of the country through which they had fled was filled with slaughter, and Jordan could not be passed over, by reason of the dead bodies that were in it, but because the lake Asphaltitis was also full of dead bodies, that were carried down into it by the river” (Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book IV, Chapter 7:5-6)
• (Quoting a letter from a British officer in India) “The carnage was great; we trampled thick on the dead bodies that were strewed in the way” (p. 597) / scene of bloodshed and carnage, that the whole face of the land was covered with the bodies of the dead (Ether 14:21) / leaving the bodies of both men, women, and children strewed upon the face of the land (Ether 14:22)
  • “While others were so greedy of gain, that they would go in among the dead bodies that lay on heaps, and tread upon them” (Josephus, Wars, Book VI, 9:4)
  • “for the ground did no where appear visible, for the dead bodies that lay on it; but the soldiers went over heaps of those bodies, as they ran upon such as fled from them” (Josephus, Wars, Book VI, 5:1)
  • “obstructed the very lanes with their dead bodies, and made the whole city run down with blood” (Josephus, Wars, Book VI, 8:5)
• a neighboring garrison, where a number of women and children had repaired for safety, and setting fire to both, they enjoyed the infernal pleasure of seeing them perish promiscuously in the flames (p. 280) / the women and children who were consuming in the fire (Alma 14:10)
  • “Many others did the same also, and fled with their children and wives into the desert, and dwelt in caves. But when the king’s generals heard this, they took all the forces they then had in the citadel at Jerusalem, and pursued the Jews…they burnt them as they were in the caves, without resistance…There were about a thousand, with their wives and children, who were smothered and died in these caves” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 6:2)
  • “they were gathered together unto a certain strong rock, and settled themselves upon it, and prepared to build a wall about it: and when Abimelech knew their intentions, he prevented them, and came upon them with his forces, and laid faggots of dry wood round the place, he himself bringing some of them, and by his example encouraging the soldiers to do the same. And when the rock was encompassed round about with these faggots, they set them on fire…so a mighty flame was raised, and nobody could fly away from the rock, but every man perished, with their wives and their children, in all about fifteen hundred men, and the rest were a great number also” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book V, 8:4)
• he compelled them…to take arms in case of an attack, against their brethren (p. 133) / he commanded them that they should take up arms against their brethren (Alma 2:10)
  • “they forced the Jews that were among them to bear arms against their own countrymen, which it is unlawful for us to do” (Life of Flavius Josephus, 6)
  • “fought against their own kindred” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVII, 10:10)
• the fruits of their labors (p. 712) / the fruits of their labors (Alma 40:26)
  • “and those that work in order to its production, of this fruit of their labors” (Josephus, Josephus, Antiquities, Book IV, 8:21)
• the more fertile (p. 608) / the more fertile (1 Nephi 16:16)
  • “the most fertile regions of Libya on the south” (Josephus, Wars, Book III, 5:7)
• elegant buildings (p. 608) / elegant and spacious buildings (Mosiah 11:8)
  • “it was a most elegant building, and wonderfully made” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book X, 11:7)
• not far distant (p. 156) / not far distant (Alma 7:7)
  • “for there appeared a might number of people that came from places far distant” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIV, 15:12)
• to the reader (p. 324) / to the reader (Jacob 7:27)
  • “we have no such laws ourselves, an epitome of which I will present to the reader” (Josephus, Against Apion, Book II, 15)
• But we shall see (p. 195) / But behold, we shall see (Alma 51:10)
  • “But we shall speak of that matter more accurately in our following history” (Josephus, Wars, Book I, 21:3)
  • “But we shall relate those things in their proper places hereafter” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VIII, 8:4)
• future generations (p. 609) / future generations (Alma 37:19)
  • “to be a witness to future generations of what he had foretold” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book VI, 4:6)
  • “to leave behind thee to all future generations a memory beyond even Harmodius and Aristogeiton” (Herodotus, Book VI)
• in so short a time (p. 162) / space of time (p. 86) / in so short a space of time (Alma 56:50)
  • “which was finished in so short a time” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 5:7)
  • “to live even the shortest space of time after them” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 9:1)
• the commencement of (p. 98) / the commencement of (Alma 51:1)
  • “and for the commencement of their hopes of future prosperity and happiness” (Josephus, Wars, Book VII, 5:6)
• The progress of (p. 85) / the progress of (Alma 60:30)
  • “Of which matter I shall treat more accurately in the progress of this history” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XVII, 2:2)
• In these circumstances (p. 595) / in these circumstances (Alma 55:23)
  • “and was in great distress to know what he should do in these circumstances” (Josephus, Wars, Book II, 19:7)
• genius to take advantage (p. 617) / prospered according to his genius (Alma 30:17)
  • “was greatly envied by his brethren, as being of a genius much above them, and such a one as they might well envy” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XII, 6:6)
• Alarming (p. 26) / this was alarming (Alma 2:3)
  • “their counsels were disordered, and it alarmed them to find that the enemy had discovered those their intentions” (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XIII, 5:10)
• He bade adieu (p. 133) / Brethren, adieu (Jacob 7:27)
  • “Thus have I set down the geneology of my family as I have found it described in the public records, and so bid adieu to those who calumniate me” (Josephus, Life of Flavius Josephus, 1)

PARALLELS FOUND IN THUCYDIDES

“The History of the Peloponnesian War” by Thucydides also accounts for many of the parallels identified by MormonThink. The number of similarities found in Thucydides and the MormonThink list of parallels are provided below:

• sets at defiance both human and divine laws (Warren, p. 12) / ye have set at defiance the commandments of God (Alma 5:18)
  • “exclusion from the ports of the Athenian empire and the market of Athens, in defiance of the treaty” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter III)
  • “But by his contempt of the laws and imitation of the barbarians, he gave grounds for much suspicion” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V… ‘contempt’ is a synonym for ‘defiance’)
• law set at defiance (Warren, p. 81) / set at defiance the law (3 Nephi 6:30)
  • “exclusion from the ports of the Athenian empire and the market of Athens, in defiance of the treaty” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter III)
  • “But by his contempt of the laws and imitation of the barbarians, he gave grounds for much suspicion” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V)
• that man, in a state of nature (p. 12) / men that are in a state of nature (Alma 41:11)
  • “In the confusion into which life was now thrown in the cities, human nature, always rebelling against the law and now its master, gladly showed itself ungoverned in passion, above respect for justice, and the enemy of all superiority” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
  • “The Plataeans were now in the last state of weakness” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
• to conquer or die in defence of their country (p. 202) / to conquer in this place or die (Alma 56:17) / defence of their country (Alma 51:20)
  • “we must conquer or hardly get away, as we shall have their horse upon us in great numbers” (Thucydides, Book VI, Chapter XX)
  • “And not contented with ideas derived only from words of the advantages which are bound up with the defence of your country” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• learn wisdom (p. 645) / learn wisdom (2 Nephi 22:30)
  • “if it is not a case for repentance, you may still learn wisdom” (Thucydides, Book VI, Chapter XIX)
• Multitudes flocked from every quarter to the American standard (p. 129) / multitudes flocked to the American standard (p. 191) / thousands did flock unto his standard (Alma 62:5)
  • “At the same time Brasidas made his preparations, calling to his standard fifteen hundred Thracian mercenaries and all the Edonians horse and targeteers…besides those in Amphipolis, and a force of heavy infantry numbering altogether about two thousand, and three hundred Hellenic horse.” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XV)
• a free government (p. 65) / a free government (Alma 46:35)
  • “The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
  • “Lacedaemonians, propose to put down free governments in the cities of Greece, and to set up tyrannies in their room” (Herodotus, Book V)
• cause of his country (p. 168) / cause of his country (Alma 62:1)
  • “Their bodies they spend ungrudgingly in their country’s cause” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter III)
• the cause of their country (p. 34) / the cause of their country (Alma 56:11)
  • “Their bodies they spend ungrudgingly in their country’s cause” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter III)
• the freedom of their country (p. 172) / the freedom of their country (Alma 59:13)
  • “men whose glory it is to be always ready to give battle for the liberty of their own country” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
• the rights for which our ancestors contended (p. 643) / for this cause were the Nephites contending…to defend…their rights (Alma 43:47)
  • (This comparison is disingenuous. The full quote from Alma is “And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion.”)
  • “The Argives, that they would contend for their ancient supremacy” (Thucydides, Chapter XVI)
  • “to show that they mean to defend themselves against an attack” (Thucydides, Chapter XIX)
  • “to come out, as many as chose, to their homes without fearing for their rights or persons” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
  • “even securing for ourselves the freedom which our fathers gave to Hellas” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V)
• (Quoting Washington) “the welfare of their country” (p. 129) / and welfare of my country (Alma 60:36)
  • “leaders are required to show a special care for the common welfare” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V)
  • “such a man would for his own sake desire the prosperity of his country more than others” (Thucydides, Book VI, Chapter XVIII)
• to take up arms in defence of their rights (p. 90) / to take up arms in defence of their country (Alma 51:20)
  • “but I do bid you not to take up arms at once” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter III)
  • “And not contented with ideas derived only from words of the advantages which are bound up with the defence of your country” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• deprive them of their rights (p. 332) / deprive them of their rights (Alma 2:4)
  • “instead of allowing itself to be deprived of its liberty by listening to you” (Thucydides, Book VI, Chapter XIX)
• to maintain their rights (p. 337) / to maintain their rights (Alma 51:6)
  • “its leaders for the time being also helped us to maintain our independence” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IX)
• stand or fall (p. 104) / stand or fall (Alma 41:7)
  • “you chose the Athenians, and with them you must stand or fall” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
• freemen (p. 175) / freemen (Alma 51:6)
  • “killing all the freemen that fell into their hands” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XVI)
• class of men (p. 601) / class of people (Alma 32:2)
  • “Farmers are a class of men that are always more ready to serve in person than in purse” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V)
• ranks and classes (p. 636) / divided into classes (4 Nephi 1:26)
  • “the commons had a design for redividing the land; but the upper classes, aware of their intention, called in the Syracusans and expelled the commons” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XV)
  • “and next you will play directly into the hands of the higher classes” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IX)
• narrow passage (p. 146) / narrow passage (Mormon 2:29)
  • “and so arrived in time to occupy the narrow pass between two hills” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
• the river Elk (p. 203) / the river Sidon (Alma 3:3)
  • “the river Acheron” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter II)
• the art of war (p. 270) / the arts of war (Ether 13:16)
  • “novices in the art of war” (Thucydides, Book VI, Chapter XX)
• a council of war (p. 300) / a council of war (Alma 52:19)
  • “The Athenians, seeing them closing up in the harbour and informed of their further designs, called a council of war” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
• to carry the point (p. 108) / not gain the point (Alma 46:29)
  • “Having thus gained their point, the delegates returned home at once” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IV)
• a full detail of their proceedings (p. 38) / an account of their proceedings (Mosiah 28:9)
  • “I answer by placing first an account of their grounds of complaint” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter I)
  • “Megarians, who did not approve of these proceedings” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XV)
• supplies of provisions (p. 208) / supplies of provisions (Alma 55:34)
  • “the transport of provisions from Euboea” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXI)
  • “A message has been sent on to them with directions to meet us with supplies of food” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
• fallen into his hands (p. 145) / fallen into his hands (Alma 53:11)
  • “killing all the freemen that fell into their hands” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XVI)
• the prisoners who fell into his hands (p. 191) / the prisoners who fell into his hands (Alma 52:8)
  • “we are prisoners who surrendered of their own accord” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
  • “killing all the freemen that fell into their hands” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XVI)
• surrendered themselves prisoners of war (p. 182) / surrendered themselves prisoners of war (Alma 57:14)
  • “upon which after consulting together they surrendered themselves and their arms” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XII)
  • “immediately set free all the prisoners of war in their possession” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XV)
• his whole army (p. 224) / his whole army (Helaman 1:20)
  • “Gylippus led out the whole army by night” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXI)
• with a part of his army (p. 191) / with a part of his army (Alma 56:33)
  • “and retired as speedily as possible with the greater part of his army” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter III)
• at their head (p. 241) / at their head (Alma 48:7)
  • “to be their head and to be regarded with a proper respect” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter II)
• thus reduced (p. 241) / been reduced (Alma 56:10)
  • “the Samians, unable to hold out, were reduced after a nine months’ siege” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V)
• laying down their arms at the feet of the victorious Washington (p. 484) / threw down their weapons of war at the feet of Moroni (Alma 52:38)
  • “lay down their arms, and commit themselves to the discretion of the Athenian people” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIII)
• and laying them at the feet of the conqueror (p. 240) / and cast them at the feet of the Nephites (Alma 55:23)
  • ““lay down their arms, and commit themselves to the discretion of the Athenian people” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIII)
• lay on their arms through the night (p. 232) / when the night came they slept upon their swords (Ether 15:20)
  • “The citizens went so far as to sleep one night armed in the temple of Theseus within the walls” (Thucydides, Book VI, Chapter XIX)
• to strengthen the hands of general Arnold (p. 256) / strengthen the hand of the Nephites (Alma 2:18)
  • “The charges which strengthen our hands in the war against the Athenians would on our own showing be merited by ourselves” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
• the warm altercations between them (p. 463) / a warm contention (Alma 50:26)
  • “Knots were formed in the streets and engaged in hot discussion; for if the proposed sally was warmly recommended, it was also in some cases opposed” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• A warm, but short, action (p. 207) / a warm dispute (Alma 51:4)
  • “although some spoke on the other side. By far the warmest advocate of the expedition was, however, Alcibiades” (Thucydides, Book VI, Chapter XVIII)
• British troops had yet met with no check (p. 428) / did arrive in season to check them (Alma 57:18)
  • “and from their summit and base kept in check all of the enemy that came up” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IX)
• to harass their march (p. 269) / did harass them (Alma 51:32)
  • “and accordingly continually harassed and made war upon the new settlers” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter XI)
• were obliged to retreat in great confusion (p. 207) / were obliged to flee before them (Alma 59:8)
  • “some of those who were obliged to leap down from the cliffs without their shields escaped with their lives and did not perish like the rest” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXII)
• fled in confusion (p. 374) / fled in much confusion (Alma 52:28)
  • “the capture of many of those outside, and the flight of the rest within the wall, combined to produce great confusion among the citizens” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
  • “suddenly and unexpectedly attacked on both sides, fell into confusion; and their left words Eion, which had already got some distance, at once broke and fled” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XV)
• prepare to meet him (p. 159) / they did prepare to meet them (Alma 2:12)
  • “who on their part advanced to meet them with all their ships that were fit for service” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter II)
  • “He therefore prepared to assail them by stratagem” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XV)
• not sufficiently strong (p. 229) / not sufficiently strong (Alma 56:23)
  • “most of the place being sufficiently strong by nature without further fortifications” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XII)
• to make an attack (p. 229) / to make an attack (Alma 56:22)
  • “in the event of the enemy bringing a fleet to make an attack by sea” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• entrenchments to be thrown up (p. 105) / bank which had been thrown up (Alma 49:18)
  • “A trench was dug all around the temple and the consecrated ground, and the earth thrown up from the excavation made to do duty as a wall, in which stakes were also planted” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
• chief commander (p. 398) / chief commander (Alma 46:11)
  • “Four hundred and thirty men they lost, and their chief commanders all three” (Thucydides, Hobbes Translation, Book II, 79)
• to fall on the rear of the British (p. 183) / to fall upon them in their rear (Alma 56:23)
  • “if the enemy advanced into the plain against the troops of Agis, they might fall upon his rear with their cavalry” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XVI)
• in the rear (p. 147) / in the rear (Alma 56:23)
  • “who were to rise up at the moment of the onset behind the projecting left wing of the enemy, and to take them in the rear” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter XI)
• cut off the retreat (p. 277) / their retreat cut off (p. 147) / cut off the way of their retreat (3 Nephi 4:24)
  • “making a descent upon Nericus was cut off during his retreat” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IX)
• concealed himself in a wood, with fifteen hundred men (p. 203) / part of the army of Moroni was concealed (Alma 43:34)
  • “The mistakes and forces of the enemy the wood would in a great measure conceal from him” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XII)
• surrounded on all sides (p. 311) / surrounded them on every side (Mosiah 21:5)
  • “When they advanced the next day the Syracusans surrounded and attacked them on every side” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
• took possession of the capitol (p. 204) / took possession of the city (Alma 51:23)
  • “The Athenians also took possession of the towns on the continent belonging to the Mitylenians” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IX)
• in possession of the first city in the union (p. 205) / took possession of the city (Alma 51:23) / in possession of the city of Zarahemla (Helaman 1:22) / took possession of the city (Alma 51:23)
  • “although they might have come over to us and been now again in possession of their city” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IX)
• general Montgomery…embarrassed with bad roads…and the murmur of his little army (p. 104) / our embarrassments (Alma 58:9) / my little army (Alma 56:33) / we do not desire to murmur (Alma 58:35) / were this all we had suffered we would not murmur (Alma 60:4)
  • “dashed at the enemy, who, embarrassed by his mistakes and the disorder in which he found himself” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VIII)
  • “These murmurs coming to the ears of Cleon, he resolved not to disgust the army by keeping it in the same place” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XV)
• repeated disappointment (p. 98) / he met with a disappointment (Alma 51:31)
  • “they had feared the reinforcement brought by Demosthenes, and deep, in consequence, was the despondency of the Athenians, and great their disappointment” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
• Dissensions ran high among the inhabitants (p. 204) / dissensions among the people (Alma 51:16)
  • “a resource which they had always counted upon, by reason of the dissensions existing, in the event of the noncontinuance of their treaty with Lacedaemon” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XVI)
• they determined to maintain (p. 170) / they were determined to maintain (Alma 56:26)
  • “Nicias also determined to fortify Plemmyrium, a promontory over against the city” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXI)
  • “helped us to maintain our independence” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IX)
• fought and bled (p. 617) / fought and bled (Alma 60:9)
  • “these men, in the assertion of their resolve not to lose her, nobly fought and died” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• delight in blood (p. 137) / delight in blood (Mosiah 11:19)
  • “the Thracian race, like the bloodiest of the barbarians, being even more so when it has nothing to fear” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXI)
• having received a dangerous wound (p. 147) / having received a wound (Mosiah 20:13)
  • “but received a wound and found himself unable to force the position” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XIV)
• Among the slain (p. 121) / among the number who were slain (Helaman 1:30)
  • “Among the slain was also Procles, the colleague of Demosthenes” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter XI)
  • “Search was made among the slain by order of the queen” (Herodotus, Book I)
• suffered much loss (p. 532) / suffered much loss (Alma 25:6)
  • “with difficulty made good their passage to Olpae, suffering heavy loss on the way” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter XI)
  • “and yet might suffer loss by an attack from an unseen position” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XII)
• great loss (p. 224) / great loss (Alma 57:23)
  • “These causes, the great losses from Decelea, and the other heavy charges that fell upon them, produced their financial embarrassment” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXI)
• a monster (p. 665) / awful monster (2 Nephi 9:10)
  • “For the sea about Athos abounds in monsters beyond all others” (Thucydides, Book VI)
• havoc (p. 278) / havoc (Helaman 11:27)
  • “and committed such havoc as to cripple them completely” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VII)
• to glut the ambition of a weak individual (p. 697) / we do not glut ourselves upon the labors of this people (Alma 30:32)
  • “an unjust verdict or the authority of the strong arm to glut the animosities of the hour” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
• scene of carnage (p. 316) / scene of blood and carnage (Mormon 5:8)
  • “Besides this, a large portion were killed outright, the carnage being very great” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
  • “for a long while they disbelieved even the most respectable of the soldiers who had themselves escaped from the scene of action and clearly reported the matter, a destruction so complete not being thought credible” (Thucydides, Book VIII, Chapter XXIV)
• passions whetted by revenge (p. 281) / But in this war, they seemed to have lost those generous feelings of compassion to the vanquished foe (p. 278) / suffered themselves to be governed either by vindictive passions, or their feelings of resentment (p. 438) / For so exceedingly do they anger that it seemeth me that they have no fear of death; and they have lost their love, one towards another; and they thirst after blood and revenge continually (Moroni 9:5)
  • “Revenge also was held of more account than self-preservation” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
• They waited long, amidst penury, hunger, and cold, for the necessary supplies (p. 211) / we were about to perish for the want of food (Alma 58:7)
  • “attacked in front and behind, began to give way, and overcome by the odds against them and exhausted from want of food” (Thucydides, Book IV, Chapter XII)
• war among themselves (p. 653) / war among themselves (1 Nephi 22:13)
  • “in others the crews were fighting among themselves” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
• the intrigues of the governmental faction (p. 86) / the intrigues of the Lamanites (Alma 55:27)
  • “they destroyed the corn and had some hopes of the city coming over through the intrigues of a faction within” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VIII)
• combinations (p. 92) / combinations (2 Nephi 9:9)
  • “it was this clause that was the real origin of the panic in Peloponnese, by exciting suspicions of a Lacedaemonian and Athenian combination against their liberties” (Thucydides, Book V, Chapter XV)
• to combine for the destruction of America (p. 87) / they did combine against the people of the Lord (3 Nephi 6:29)
  • “the Ambraciots having come and urged them to combine with them in attacking Amphilochian Argos” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter XI)
• (Quoting a letter from a British officer in India) “The carnage was great; we trampled thick on the dead bodies that were strewed in the way” (p. 597) / scene of bloodshed and carnage, that the whole face of the land was covered with the bodies of the dead (Ether 14:21) / leaving the bodies of both men, women, and children strewed upon the face of the land (Ether 14:22)
  • “Besides this, a large portion were killed outright, the carnage being very great, and not exceeded by any in this Sicilian war” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
  • “The bodies of dying men lay one upon another…The sacred places also in which they had quartered themselves were full of corpses of persons who had died there, just as they were; for as the disaster passed all bounds, men, not knowing what was to become of them, became utterly careless of everything, whether sacred or profane” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VII)
• he compelled them…to take arms in case of an attack, against their brethren (p. 133) / he commanded them that they should take up arms against their brethren (Alma 2:10)
  • “the Rhodians, Argives by race, were compelled to bear arms against the Dorian Syracusans and their own colonists” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXIII)
• by my own industry (p. 139) / by the hand of my industry (Alma 10:4)
  • “our ordinary citizens, though occupied with the pursuits of industry, are still fair judges of public matters” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• the fruits of their labors (p. 712) / the fruits of their labors (Alma 40:26)
  • “it is hereditary to us to win virtue as the fruit of labor” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter V)
• the more fertile (p. 608) / the more fertile (1 Nephi 16:16)
  • “and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter I)
• not far distant (p. 156) / not far distant (Alma 7:7)
  • “for it was not far distant from the main land” (Thucydides, Hobbes Translation, Book III, 51)
• to the reader (p. 324) / to the reader (Jacob 7:27)
  • “I cannot tell of what race they were, or when they came or whither they went, and must leave my readers to what the poets have said of them” (Thucydides, Book VI, Chapter XVIII)
• at this period (p. 25) / at this period (Alma 51:19)
  • “it was quite at the end of this period that the war with Aegina and the prospect of the Barbarian invasion enabled Themistocles to persuade the Athenians” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter I)
• the commencement of (p. 98) / the commencement of (Alma 51:1)
  • “Zeal is always at its height at the commencement of an undertaking” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• The progress of (p. 85) / the progress of (Alma 60:30)
  • “But the Plataeans, observing the progress of the mound” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• at this critical conjuncture (p. 39) / the critical moment (p. 110) / era was truly critical (p. 204) / this was a critical time (Alma 51:9)/ critical circumstances (Alma 57:16)
  • “His arrival chanced at a critical moment” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXI)
  • “as he thought that they were in a critical position” (Thucydides, Book VII, Chapter XXI)
• awful situation (p. 213) / awful situation (Mosiah 2:40)
  • “reflecting not merely on the awful fate in store for us, but also on the character of the sufferers” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter X)
• dangerous crisis (p. 29)/ awful crisis (Alma 34:34)
  • “return us like for like, remembering that this is that very crisis in which he who lends aid is most a friend” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter II)
• to shrink (p. 572) / to shrink (Alma 43:48)
  • “who best know the difference between hardship and pleasure and yet are never tempted to shrink from danger” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• In these circumstances (p. 595) / in these circumstances (Alma 55:23)
  • “your welcome of us under these circumstances will be a proof of goodwill” (Thucydides, Book I, Chapter II)
• genius to take advantage (p. 617) / prospered according to his genius (Alma 30:17)
  • “So superfluously abundant were the resources from which the genius of Perclles foresaw an easy triumph in the war over the unaided forces of the Peloponnesians” (Thucydides, Book II, Chapter VI)
• Alarming (p. 26) / this was alarming (Alma 2:3)
  • “The most alarming feature in the case is the constant change of measures with which we appear to be threatened” (Thucydides, Book III, Chapter IX)